Flying to Bangkok was uneventful. As Teresa and I passed the final customs check and were heading to hail a taxi we realized we had both been thinking the same thing: why spend one day in Bangkok only to return to the airport tomorrow for our flight to beijing? We viewed it as a 'Waste of a day'. We promptly turned our carts around and headed to departures.
We found the desk for Hong Kong airways. We explained that we had a flight for Beijing for tomorrow, Tuesday, but were hoping to get there today. A lovely lady, Pannada, was eager and took care of things for us. She got us on an evening flight to Hong Kong but then we were going to be on standby for a flight to Beijing. As she was working on these arrangements I grabbed a customer feedback card and wrote a glowing review. She was over the top helpful. When we were checked in she looked at us and asked us to help her by filling out a customer card. Before she could finish her sentence I held up the already filled in card. She started dancing and then wiped tears from her eyes: she was so excited and thankful! What a joy it was to meet and bless her! The four agents around us were all part of the fun as well: they laughed and some danced along with her. As we left, the five agents were most friendly: smiling, bowing and thanking. It helped me love the Chinese! It was a joy to be able to interact with them. That was just another blessing in heading to Beijing a day early!
As we left the counter it was clear that at the time we misunderstood our directions for getting to Beijing. We thought we were leaving Bangkok the next morning. As we turned away from our friends at the check-in counter Teresa looks at me and says, "that's military time". She was referring to our boarding pass. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 20:25. That night. Good catch, Teresa. Sweet.
India has very little meat. In three weeks I only dared have chicken once. Pork and beef are non-existent. We both craved beef like no tomorrow. We saw a sign for Burger King and our eyes bulged like the squirrel on Ice Age. I saw the sign and excitedly sighed (is that possible?) "beef!" We bee-lined. We paid too much for a Whopper but, c'est la vie! We did have the privilege of sitting beside a Polish girls volleyball team: high school age or so. They were completely decked out: matching shoes, shorts, jacket, tshirt, satchel, duffle bag. There were five coaches and a manager. They must have been legit! And we all enjoyed our beef together.
After an hour and a half delay we boarded our flight to HongKong. As we did so our friends from the check-in counter gave us a lovely send-off: more smiles, laughs and bows. The entertainment on the flight was good so time went quickly. After arriving in HongKong around midnight there was nothing left to do but collect our bags and find a place to sleep. We found a lovely, drafty piece of marble floor right in front of the HongKong airways check in counters. And tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to sleep on the floor of the airport.
Time 'goes slowly' in such a situation but a) we were getting to China earlier (hopefully) and b) we were saving hotel costs.
As soon as there was a hint of a presence at the checkin counter, Teresa was over there in a flash to try to secure seats. She was successful which was quite the relief. We weren't thrilled at the idea of hanging out in the airport much longer.
On the flight to and from Hong Kong I watched a French movie called "Amour".
As I write this blog a week later I just found out that this film was the 2013 Academy Award winner for best foreign language film. This is a beautiful, intriguing and possibly disturbing movie about...love. It is over two hours with very little dialogue. Essentially it depicts the life of a couple in their eighties who are both musical specialists. They're cultured, refined and stereotypical Parisians. They have one daughter, also a musician, who is touring Europe with her family. One day at breakfast Anne has a stroke. This is the first step in her physical and then mental deterioration. Early on, after she is paralyzed on the right side and returns home from hospital, she pleads and Georges promises to never bring her back to the hospital or put her in a nursing home. A tough promise to make, I'm sure. As a result he commits to caring for her through each stage of her deterioration. It is raw and moving and deep. It really is a picture of love.
The movie moved me. The way Georges cared for his wife is the way I see my dad caring for my mom should such a thing hit them. What he does for her is what nurses do in hospitals and nursing homes. It is what volunteers do for the ladies of Prem Dan. It is the way I envision my friend Niki and her mom caring for her dad this summer as he deteriorated. It is the way Mother Teresa cared for the untouchables. It is love in, what I think, one of the rawest forms.
We arrived in Beijing and realized how helpful guidebooks are: they said that you need to know where you're going as Chinese taxi drivers rarely speak English. And add to that the fact they don't read English. They don't recognize English letters. In other countries you can point to addresses without speaking and get where you need to. Not the case in China. Thankfully we had our hostel address in Chinese characters.
We stayed at the Dragon king hostel and it was lovely!
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